The present invention relates generally to a roofing composite comprised of a roofing material and an interply material attached thereto. The roofing material may be roofing shingles or roll roofing and the interply material is water resistant.
Roofing products are often divided into three broad groups: shingles, roll roofing and underlayment. Shingles and roll roofing typically function as outer roof coverings designed to withstand exposure to weather and the elements. Asphalt shingles and roll roofing generally contain the same basic components which provide protection and long term wear associated with asphalt roofing products. In a typical roof installation, the underlayment is first laid on top of the roof deck, and then the outer roofing covering (e.g., shingles or roll roofing) is attached on top of the underlayment.
Asphalt shingles (sometimes also referred to as composite shingles) are one of the most commonly used roofing materials. Asphalt shingles may include an organic felt or fiberglass mat base on which an asphalt coating is applied. The organic felt or fiberglass mat base gives the asphalt shingle the strength to withstand manufacturing, handling, installation and servicing activities, and the asphalt coating provides resistance to weathering and stability under temperature extremes. An outer layer of mineral granules is also commonly applied to the asphalt coating to form a weather surface which shields the asphalt coating from the sun""s rays, adds color to the final product, and provides additional fire resistance.
Asphalt shingles are typically manufactured as strip or three tab shingles, laminated shingles, interlocking shingles, and large individual shingles in a variety of weights and colors. Even though asphalt shingles offer significant cost, service life, and fire resistance advantages over wood shingles, wood shingles are sometimes preferred due to their pleasing aesthetic features, such as their greater thickness as compared to asphalt shingles, which may result in a more pleasing, layered look for a roof.
Various asphalt shingles have been developed to provide an appearance of thickness comparable to wood shingles. Examples of such asphalt shingles are shown in U S. Pat. No. 5,232,530 entitled xe2x80x9cMethod of Making a Thick Shinglexe2x80x9d; U.S. Pat. No. 3,921,358 entitled xe2x80x9cComposite Shinglexe2x80x9d; U.S. Pat. No. 4,717,614 entitled xe2x80x9cAsphalt Shinglexe2x80x9d; and U.S. Pat. Des. No. D309,027 entitled xe2x80x9cTab Portion of a Shingle.xe2x80x9d Some laminated asphalt shingles simulate the appearance of slate roofing shingles. See U.S. Pat. No. Des. 369,421. Each of the patents mentioned in this paragraph is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.
In addition to these patents, significant improvements in the art of roofing shingles have been disclosed and patented in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,369,929; 5,611,186; and 5,666,776; each entitled xe2x80x9cLaminated Roofing Shinglexe2x80x9d, issued to Weaver et al. and assigned to the Elk Corporation of Dallas. These patents disclose laminated roofing shingles developed to create the illusion of thickness or depth on a relatively flat surface by including a backer strip having striations of color beneath and between tabs wherein the color is uniform within the tab. Each of these three patents is also incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.
Additional improvements include the use of larger shingles having a buttlap section of greater than about 7 inches to provide a more pleasing appearance and a greater visual impact by providing enhanced dimensionality, as disclosed in pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/401,392 entitled xe2x80x9cLaminated Roofing Shinglexe2x80x9d and filed on Sep. 22, 1999, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. Shingles typically have a buttlap section, a part of which is exposed to the environment, and a headlap section, which is covered by the buttlap section of the shingle in the next row above. The headlap section is typically wide in order to (i) improve weatherproofing, (ii) insure that a majority of the roof is covered by at least one layer of buttlap section and at least one layer of headlap section, and (iii) aid in the production and handling of the shingle. Accordingly, heretofore the production of shingles having a greater exposure area (e.g., having a buttlap section of greater than 7 inches) has required retooling of existing machinery because standard equipment typically produces a shingle having a width of about 13.25 inches. The present invention enables the production on existing equipment lines of a variety of roofing shingles providing for enhanced exposure while still enabling the achievement of Class A fire resistance ratings.
The present invention is a roofing composite including a roofing material and an interply material attached to the roofing material. The interply material is attached adjacent to an edge of the roofing material. The interply material is scored to permit a major portion of the interply material to be folded away from the roofing material for application to a roof.
The roofing composite of the present invention may include roofing material such as laminated asphalt shingles or three tab asphalt shingles or roll roofing. The interply material is comprised of a water resistant material and preferably a water and fire resistant material. The interply material may be a coated structural article such as those disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,965,257 which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. Such an interply material may be comprised of a substrate having an ionic charge coated with a coating having essentially the same ionic charge. The coating consists essentially of a filler material and a binder material. The binder material bonds the filler material together and to the substrate. The coating does not bleed through the substrate. The interply material may be from 10% to 25% by weight glass fibers and the coating may be from 84% to 96% filler selected from the group consisting of fly ash, charged calcium carbonate, ceramic microspheres and mixtures thereof, and from 16% to 4% acrylic latex binder material.
Alternatively, the interply material may be comprised of a substrate having an ionic charge coated on one side with a coating having essentially the same ionic charge. Again, the coating consists essentially of a filler material and a binder material and the binder material bonds the filler material together and to the substrate. The coating does not bleed through the substrate. The substrate is covered on the other side with a water vapor impermeable material selected from the group consisting essentially of metal foils and preformed plastic films. Examples of such materials are provided in pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/897,308 entitled xe2x80x9cWater Vapor Barrier Structural Articlexe2x80x9d and filed on Jul. 2, 2001, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. The water vapor impermeable material is attached to the coated substrate with an adhesive.
Additionally, the interply material may be comprised of a substrate having an ionic charge coated on both sides with a coating having essentially the same ionic charge. The coating again consists essentially of a filler material and a binder material and the binder material bonds the filler material together and to the substrate. The coating does not bleed through the substrate. One side of the coated substrate is covered with a water vapor impermeable material selected from the group consisting essentially of metal foils and preformed plastic films. The water vapor impermeable material is attached to the coated substrate with an adhesive. Alternatively, one side of the coated substrate may be covered with a metal foil water vapor barrier material and the other side of the coated substrate may be covered with a preformed plastic film water vapor impermeable material. Both water vapor impermeable materials may be attached to the coated substrate with an adhesive. Further, both sides of the coated substrate may be coated with the same water vapor impermeable material, either a metal foil or a preformed plastic film, which may be attached to the coated substrate with an adhesive. In such embodiments, the coating may be from 84% to 96% filler selected from the group consisting of fly ash, charged calcium carbonate, ceramic microspheres and mixtures thereof and from 16% to 4% acrylic latex binder material.
The adhesive for the embodiments described above is selected from the group consisting essentially of low density polyethylene, high density polyethylene, polyethylene-vinyl acetate, polypropylene, polyvinylidene chloride, nylon, polyester, asphaltic adhesive, and mixtures thereof.
In the roofing material of the present invention, alternative interply materials may also be employed. One such material is comprised of a roll roofing product including an organic or inorganic substrate such as fiberglass or mineral wool. The substrate may be coated with asphaltic material on which mineral surfacing materials, such as granules, sand, and slag are then applied. Another such interply material is comprised of asphalt impregnated felt underlayment material.